To impart steering wheels a high-quality appearance, portions of the steering wheel rim may be provided with decorative elements which have a specially designed surface, e.g. wood, imitated wood or metal surfaces. It is of essential importance that these decorative elements are firmly connected with the steering wheel and are not detached from the steering wheel e.g. due to vibrations occurring while driving.
DE 299 100 997 represents a possibility of attaching a decorative element to the steering wheel rim, with a clamp element extending around the steering wheel skeleton and the clamp element being foam-coated except for latching elements disposed at the same, so that in the finished steering wheel it is disposed below the sheathing of the steering wheel. The decorative element has been clipped onto the latching element of the clamp element. The manufacturing effort for this kind of attachment is relatively high due to the sheathing of the clamp element.